Larry Fedora openly bristled at the suggestion earlier this week that his team would be cast in the role of spoiler against Virginia Tech on Saturday.

“That has never even entered my mind,” the first-year North Carolina football coach said at his weekly press conference. “We want to be Coastal Division champs and this is an ACC game, so we’re going to go out there and approach it that way.”

There’s only one problem with that approach.

While the Tar Heels are still in position to post the best record in the division and would have every right to proclaim themselves Coastal champs if that happens, they’re officially ineligible for the title because of the one-year NCAA postseason ban they’re currently serving.

Their position in the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte on Dec. 1 would also be vacated and someone else would take their place against, presumably, Florida State for the league’s automatic berth in the lame duck BCS.

That’s why Saturday’s matchup with the Hokies is still so important. And why another seemingly nondescript game about eight miles away later in the day could end up being even bigger if the Tar Heels don’t allow the reeling Hokies to get back on the winning track.

Because even though Miami appears to be in complete control of the division at 3-0 following Saturday’s wild victory against N.C. State, there’s no guarantee the Hurricanes will be eligible for the crown either by the time championship week rolls around.

Remember that they’re under investigation by the NCAA, too, and if published reports by Yahoo! Sports and others are accurate, they’re expected to learn the severity of their sanctions by the end of November.

If Miami’s transgressions are deemed to be severe enough to warrant another postseason ban beyond the self-imposed one they took after last season, then coach Al Golden’s team will be in the same boat as Fedora and his Tar Heels. Such a decision would leave only four schools with a chance of “winning” the Coastal and ending up in Charlotte.

Which brings us back to Saturday.

As crazy as some of the potential scenarios might be, including Duke winning the division on its own merits, Virginia Tech could restore some much needed order to the Crazy Coastal by bouncing back from two ugly nonconference losses in the last three weeks and winning in Chapel Hill. The Hokies have done it before.

With a win, coach Frank Beamer’s team would move to 2-0 and continue to control their own destiny. Even then, a fourth-straight Coastal crown would be anything but guaranteed with games at Clemson at Miami and at home against Florida State in consecutive weeks later this season.

Sure, the Blue Devils are more concerned right now with getting the two more wins necessary to become bowl eligible and break their 17-year (non-NCAA imposed) postseason drought. And yes, the back half of their schedule is as difficult as it comes in the ACC.

But that doesn’t change the reality that coach David Cutcliffe and his team could easily find itself sitting pretty at 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the ACC if it takes care of business at home against Virginia on Saturday.

Then what?

Remember, depending on what happens with Miami and the NCAA, there’s a realistic possibility that a team can finish as low as third in the standings and still be recognized as the “official” division champ.

In that event, commissioner John Swofford could always work out a deal to have Notre Dame to play in place of a Coastal Division also-ran. Or perhaps the ACC could simply invoke its “one-win” rule and bump the Atlantic Division runnerup – presumably Clemson – into the championship game instead.

At least that way it would have its two best teams on display.

Just don’t hold your breath hoping either of those things will happen. Like it or not, someone is eventually going to have to emerge from the Coastal chaos and lay claim to the title.

At this point, anything is possible. Anything, that is, except for UNC being cast into the role of spoiler.